Autodesk Vault 4: Autodesk’s Data Management Solution Comes Into Its Own

Are You Using Autodesk Vault Yet?
If not, why not? Do you work in a small design department? Do you work alone? Are you concerned about non-Vault users viewing design data? Odds are you’ve at least heard about its features and capabilities, and despite its power you’re somehow still holding out.

If you’re using Vault today, you’re already aware of the huge benefits it brings in terms of data security and re-use. You’re probably also aware of the limitations of Vault 3. Its tools, while incredibly useful, could be a bit cumbersome to use and had their limits. With the introduction of Vault 4, all of that is going to change. Autodesk has removed almost all realistic objections for implementing Vault, and made the lives of existing users tremendously easier.


What’s So Great About Vault 4?
The simple answer – everything. Existing tools have been improved. New, extremely powerful tools have been added. From every-day use to periodic management, Vault 4 offers improvements across the board. Let’s start with the improvements to existing features:


Existing Tools Made More Powerful

Automatic DWF Creation and Publication for All Checked-in CAD Documents
In Vault 3, it was possible to have DWF files automatically created for documents upon check-in. While handy, this option was a bit difficult to use. The DWF had to be attached manually within the vault, and had to always be checked out with the parent document. DWFs could also be auto-published outside the vault, but that information was stored in easily-alterable project files.

Vault 4 now offers automatic DWF creation (and update) of all CAD documents. No more worries about tracking attachments. If desired, Vault 4 will also auto-publish these DWFs to a folder you specify:



Both of these features are optional, and are controlled by users with Administrator access. No more worries about users inadvertently changing publish-folder locations or breaking attachments. These features should also make Vault more attractive to those non-users who worry over sharing design data outside the engineering department.

Save Common Searches
The ability to search on any property of any file within the Vault is very attractive. What’s not attractive is typing in those common searches over and over. Vault 4 now gives you the ability to save those searches you use on a regular basis and recall them very quickly. For example, you could create a search for all documents checked out by a given user and save that search:




The best part is that recalling that search couldn’t be easier. The search can be saved as a virtual folder, to be recalled with a single click:




Properties Management
The ability to search on properties is fantastic. The ability to save common searches is even better. What wasn’t so good in Vault 3 was the management of properties themselves – there simply wasn’t any. Vault 4 introduces the ability to completely control what properties are available for searching, and will even allow you to combine similar properties into a single, ‘virtual’ property. This is all accomplished by an Administrator with an easy to use dialog:



Every property can be individually selected for use or exclusion, and any number of properties can be merged into a single property for ease of use. The display name of each property can also be modified.

Where these new abilities really shine is when AutoCAD block attributes are indexed. Indexing AutoCAD block attributes in the past often led to duplicate properties for things like project number and part number – especially in mixed Inventor/AutoCAD environments. If you wanted to find all documents sharing a given project number, you might have had to add two, three or even more search criteria to find them all. Now every search can be completed with one criterion per property if desired.

Integrated Backup and Restore Within Vault Manager
If you’re currently a Vault user, you are backing up your Vault regularly, right? Why not? Can’t remember where that pesky VaultMaintenanceUI.exe is hidden? You don’t have to worry about that issue anymore – Vault Manager now integrates the ability to backup and restore your vaults:



These new tools work in exactly the same way as the old backup and restore tools. They’re the same great tools; you just have an easier way to get to them.

Manage Users From Within Vault Explorer
While Autodesk moved the ability to backup and restore in to Vault Manager, they moved out another important feature. User Management is now performed by an Administrator through the Vault Explorer interface. This allows an administrator to manage users from any machine with Vault Explorer installed – not just the server.


AutoCAD Add-In Now Integrated With X-Ref Manager

Autodesk has greatly improved Vault’s integration with AutoCAD. The AutoCAD add-in now fully supports referenced files, both X-Refs and images. No more worrying about where to find that site drawing that is referenced three levels deep. Vault will find and track it for you.

A very useful addition to the AutoCAD Vault add-in is the ability to add DWGs by entire folders at once. Adding via this method will ensure reference integrity. This is a vast improvement over the method used with Vault 3 - dragging and dropping from Windows Explorer into Vault Explorer. The ability to add DWGs en-masse should be a powerful motivator for users with vast amounts of legacy data to finally make the switch to Vault.


New Tools That Will Knock Your Socks Off

Don’t mind that noise in the background – that’s just existing Vault users weeping with joy at the vast improvements to Vault’s existing capabilities. We’re not done yet, though. Some of the best parts of Vault 4 are the all-new features:


Microsoft Office Integration
Vault 4 now offers complete integration with Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. While Vault 3 would certainly manage your non-CAD data, manual intervention through Vault Explorer was required. Now Vault offers check-in, check-out, and open-from Vault capabilities through a convenient toolbar:



Labeling
The ability to apply ‘Labels’ is an extremely power new feature. What is a label? Think of it as a snapshot of your data at a given point in time. Every project has milestones – concept, design review, release, debug, etc. The documentation at each of these milestones is important. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to quickly retrieve exactly what documentation was provided for a design review?

Labels give you this power. You can create labels, and assign certain documents to these labels. Once created, you can pack-and-go based on a label, or in extreme cases even roll-back the contents of your Vault based on a label.

Copy Design
This may be the best new feature of Vault 4, and possibly the best of all its features. Copy Design is exactly what it sounds like. Through a combination of copy and rename, you can very quickly create a new design based on existing data. The interface for Copy Design makes specifying exactly how the original files should be manipulated quick and easy:



You’re not forced into creating copies of every file for the new design. You also have the option of reusing, excluding and even replacing files. In addition, powerful bulk renaming tools similar to those used by Inventor’s Mirror and Copy Components commands make the renaming process for large designs a snap. The ability to copy previous versions for easy branching from key design points is just icing on the cake.


Integrated Viewing Using DWF
With Vault 3, viewing CAD documents dictated that local copies of all necessary files be available on the viewer’s system. If these files weren’t available, they would need to be retrieved. This could obviously lead to some significant delays when trying to view. Vault 4 solves this problem by integrating viewing of DWF files within Vault Explorer. So long as a DWF of the file you want to view exists in the Vault (you can have these DWFs created automatically if you wish), viewing is as simple as clicking on the appropriately named ‘View’ tab:



All of the viewing tools available in the familiar DWF Viewer are now available right within Vault Explorer.



Purge Unwanted Past Versions
You likely don’t want 20 versions of a file sitting in your Vault forever – especially those early versions that aren’t even close to complete. Why not just delete them? Sounds simple, right?

In reality, this simple act can have a serious - and if done improperly detrimental - impact on your data. With Inventor data, very few files stand alone. When keeping previous versions of all this data, the interdependent relationships become even more confusing. Luckily, with Vault 4 Autodesk has provided a very easy-to-use tool for removing unwanted data from the Vault. The Purge command is now available in the Vault Manager:



As the dialog indicates, you can specify to keep the newest versions of your files either by version level or by date. Version Purge is a very useful tool that makes an incredibly complex task simple.

Autodesk’s Commitment to Data Management

The vast improvements and additions brought to Vault with this new release prove that Autodesk is serious about providing quality Data Management capabilities to its mechanical customers. The combination of power and usability that is Vault 4 should make existing Vault users eager and excited to migrate. It should also make those of you not using Vault take another long, hard look at the reasons why.